God’s plan goes far beyond just the redemption of mankind.
One Not Three
Within creation there are certain standards of organization which are seen again and again. One of these is the number three which is especially prevalent in spiritual organization. This number/concept represents temporary perfection and stability; something that is stable (like a three legged stool), but not intended to stay that way forever. The most obvious example is God Himself represented in three distinct personalities. He is the one who divided himself in the first place and He does not intend to stay this way forever. There is one God who was one and will be one again, not remain forever in three “parts”.
The concept that God’s current existence is a temporary one is well outside orthodox belief and leads to immediate rejection by many. But just because this revelation is beyond most peoples concept of God does not mean it is wrong. Nor is doubting or questioning the idea wrong. However, rejecting it outright leaves a person stuck on the old path of deception and ultimately the death of a greater outcome. Pursue a new and better path leading to fuller truth.
The pursuit of truth is not easy or comfortable and many will not do it for any number of reasons. If you are a seeker of truth – read on; if not, you may as well stop now. To those who continue – try to suspend judgment until you consider the matter.
Something New
God is doing something new. He has done this before; why suppose He will not do it again? Every time He has introduced a new way of interacting with His creation there was great opposition and effort to maintain the old, or to most minds, only way. This opposition was often violent and irrational. In other words, tradition is often more important than truth to many. If you are unfamiliar with the gospel accounts of God’s last big change you should read them now. Many of the same patterns will play out in similar ways and the outcome will be the same – God will prevail.
Many Christians think they know how the end times will play out. Christ will return and set everything right. This is certainly correct, but they have no agreement on exactly how or when this will happen, and this means that at least some of them have to be wrong. In truth all are wrong. No one understands, and that includes us. We do know it will not be as anyone has understood to date.
Many believe Christ’s return is imminent. It is not. Our current understanding is that it is probably three or four generations away. There are a lot of changes and a great work to be done before His return can occur. There is to be an entire age, a new revelation of God and His plan, before that momentous event.
New, but Not Entirely
When God does something new He builds on what has gone before. He does not start from scratch. There are six steps or ages before the final rest spoken of in Hebrews and pictured by the seventh day of creation wherein God rested. The first five steps are recognizable. That there is to be a sixth remained unknown until now. Not even the apostles of the first century knew of this. Jesus did know and did speak of it, but the meaning of His words was hidden and is only now being revealed. This is no different than those scriptures in the Old Testament whose meaning was revealed in the New Testament.
Why Reveal This Now?
Why now? And why us? We can only answer that it is God’s timing and because we were willing to think outside the box and let God be who He is without rejecting outright things we did not understand. Will you pursue truth no matter where it leads, or do you cling to your more comfortable deception? God defines deception as any combination of truth and error. The whole world and everyone in it lives in deception, us included. The only way out of deception is to pursue pure truth alone – attempting to separate truth from error simply will not work because all such attempts are operating within that deception. There is no way you can win that game. All you can do is change the ratio or mix of truth and error, but no matter the relative amounts it will still be deception.
The pursuit of truth, and truth alone, is not easy. It involves a whole new way of thinking and changing your point of view. There is no easy way to explain this. It involves the introduction of many concepts all of which have to be understood in order to complete this process. God said in the scripture that His ways and thoughts are different than ours (Isiah 55:8). This needs to change. Our thoughts and ways can be like God’s, but this is far from easy or quick. It takes work, and it takes time, and most of all it takes commitment and total dedication. God is a very complex being and He wants to be understood and appreciated for who He is. He wants a relationship that is deep and endless. He needs love just as much as we do, but He mostly gets fear, rejection, or disinterest.
God is doing something new. He is stripping away the clouded mirror and letting us see Him as He is. No more secrets, no more holding back. He will answer any question, explain any motivation, even discuss His decisions and errors (is there such a thing?). We caution that He may be unable to answer some of our questions simply because we are unable to understand the answers, but no subject is off limits. There are many pieces and much understanding that must be in place before He can address some subjects. God has spent the past six years teaching us many of these building blocks of understanding. We do not claim to understand everything. Far from it. There is much we do not know, but we have enough understanding that God can now answer most questions we ask. Sometimes He still says “it’s complicated” which is His way of saying you are still missing something you need in order to understand the answer. He used to say that a lot, not so often anymore.
Have we arrived at this level of understanding because we a smarter, better scholars, more righteous or more spiritual than anyone else? Most certainly not. We are here because it is God’s time and because we were willing to walk the hard path and let God be who He is which involves giving up our definitions and conceptions. Beyond that we cannot say – it is God’s choice and His invitation. Our only option was to say yes or no. We said yes and here we are.
What This Means To You
What does this mean to you? It means God is offering this same opportunity to you. If you are still reading then that is most likely the case. What we can offer is an easier path. It is never easy, only easier, because we can shorten the learning curve. We had to learn the hard way without any precedent, but you can get more quickly to the conclusions since we know what they are and can help you along. You still have to learn the various pieces before they can be assembled, but we can tell you what the assembly looks like. You still have to do it; no one can give it to you, not even God. It has to be built piece by piece. We can give you the blueprint which is something we did not have. WE (God and us – one of the concepts you need to understand) drew the blueprints. They are not complete but are definitely useable for starting the building process.
God Is Making the Bride
What exactly is it that God is building? As with most such questions there are multiple answers, but the principal one discussed here is His Bride. This is the purpose of the sixth age. The Bride requires a level of commitment and purity not achievable in the fifth (church) age. The church and the Bride are not the same. They are separate. Both are Christ’s, but with distinct differences and different positions. Early in our journey to truth we thought God’s plan was to restore what existed before Adam’s rebellion and to complete the creation of a suitable companion (bride) for Himself. That is, in fact, one part of an even bigger plan involving not just men (humans), but God, angels, and men. Each of these three parts is equally important although not equal. God is still God and we (men and angels) are not. But the plan requires all three.
God cannot do it alone. Just this statement violates the orthodox belief that God is all powerful. He is very powerful – beyond what we can understand, but there are limits even for God. There are some things He cannot do, nor does He have unlimited resources, as unbelievable as that sounds. One thing He cannot do is reproduce Himself as He is. He simply cannot do that. Another thing He cannot just do is create pure or perfected being. Being is another key concept you need to learn. It is sort of analogous to character but much more complex. Being is created by God, but pure being requires the cooperation and effort of the created. Scripture refers to the bride who has made herself ready. This is something God cannot or will not do by Himself. He will play a large role, but will not act alone.
What God Did Not Anticipate
While we are on the subject of God’s limitations let’s dispense with a couple of other orthodox views. God does not know everything. He did not anticipate Satan’s rebellion. He was blindsided by it – did not expect it at all. He considers that a major error on His part. There is much more to this but the short version is God had to reconsider and revise His plan before it had even been fully proclaimed. The angels never knew their complete part in His greater plan until this age. They believed they were only servants and not partners. In truth they are just as important as humans are to God’s greater plan.
The first three days of the creation account are principally God reestablishing order from the chaos of rebellion. He also had to make contingency plans for the possible, if not probable, rebellion of His soon to be human creation. Did God know if Adam would sin or not? This is not as easy to answer as it appears, and this represents some of that complexity we have written about. God would say, and has said “yes” and “no” to this question. No matter how you attempt to understand these apparently contradictory answers you can’t until you begin to learn to think like God.
God’s Point of View
To understand these things you have to adopt God’s point of view. In other words think like God and this involves more the direction from which you look at a subject than the actual thought process. We are very similar to God in many, many respects. Scripture says we are made in His image. This does not mean appearance – God is spirit; He does not have a body. The image He refers to includes much of the way we think and feel, and especially our creative ability which is something angels do not have.
You will get used to answers like “yes and no”, “it is and it isn’t”, “you can and you can’t” etc. You will actually begin to understand those answers as you adopt God’s point of view and recognize some of the complexities. God never makes absolute statements. We think He does, it sounds like He does, but there is always a “yes but”, exception, clarification, complication etc. You (or He) can still answer yes or no to many questions, but you must do so with those caveats in mind. Yes might mean almost always yes, or yes in this specific instance, or yes but … These qualifications only disappear in the “whole” – another concept you will learn and one that is not easy to adopt.
Creation and Choice
So, does God know what you will do, what you will choose when given a choice, how your life will play out? Basically, yes. But He does not force you to choose one or the other. He offers genuine choice; He just generally knows what your choice will be. Adam had a genuine choice. If he had made the better choice things would have turned out much differently. The statement that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world indicates God knew what that choice would be. The foundation of the world does not mean the original creation in the first verse of Genesis. It refers to the third day when matter, which already existed, was assembled. The necessity of Christ’s sacrifice was not part of the original plan.
The statement “God created the heavens and the earth” in the first verse of Genesis refers to the spiritual and physical components of creation. God made everything from Himself, not even God can create something from nothing. He is not a genie.
Is God Everywhere?
God is everywhere only in the sense that He created everything from Himself and this includes a spirit that is everywhere. But that spirit is not a consciousness entity; it is not God. Once again the orthodox belief is incorrect. God is in heaven (a spiritual place) and in Christians. He is not everywhere. Native cultures had/have an appreciation of this spirit even though incorrectly understood and usually personalized. Christians remain ignorant of it altogether. Both are deceived.
A New View of God
Is all of this enough to shake up your understanding and view of God? It should be, and there is more. God is a very complex, endlessly fascinating, enjoyable, awesome being who very much desires a deep relationship with you. He is not after obedience. He is after commitment, passion, purity, and agreement. He offers truth, purpose, and a loving relationship you cannot even fully imagine. Building that relationship is time consuming and difficult. It requires a level of commitment and dedication few are willing or able to give.
If you are willing the rewards are tremendous, and yet you cannot do it for reward or any reason other than love. You must do it for love and love alone. Can you love God the way He wants to be loved? This is not about you or me, it is about Him. He already loves you – turn that love around. If you decide to do that you can learn how to do it.
What About the Angels?
Angels are brilliant builders but cannot design things. They are not creators whereas humans are. They were not created with that ability. It is one of the principle differences between angels and men. Angels are spirit and do not die which gives them an entirely different point of view. They are incredibility focused, dedicated, and untiring. They have observed humans for a long time but do not truly understand us, and we understand them even less. This needs to change as we are now equal partners in God’s greater plan. Mans ideal relationship with God is love, based on who God is. The angels relationship is worship, based on what God is. We need to learn from one another.
Conclusion
Why should you believe anything we say? This is a question you should ask. Do not believe it because we say it. Do not believe it because it sounds good. Do not believe it because you think it will make you special or result in greater reward. Believe it because it is truth. Believe it or not, it is not our job to try and convince you this is truth. We simply state it. It is your responsibility to prove it one way or the other. We offer helps on how to do this, but the responsibility is yours.
See the following for more detail:
The Seven Ages of God
How to Try the Spirits
Truth, Deception, Life and Death
Also see another article titled “God, Angels, and Men” from August 2012. Our understanding has progressed since then, especially regarding “being” which we referred to then as character, but the content is relevant. Our relationship with angels is only just beginning and has a long way to go.
Ultimately all of this is between you and God. Ask Him. He will answer although you may need to learn how to recognize the answer. This is another subject we offer help understanding, but once again it is your responsibility and your assignment. No one can do it for you, you must do it yourself.
See:
Listening to God, Hearing His Voice
If you recognize this as truth, or if you are not sure but want to be, we are available to talk to you individually or in a group. We are small in numbers and physically located in the United States Pacific Northwest so we have to work within those parameters. Obviously a personal meeting is best and we are not unwilling to travel, but that may not be possible in many cases. Give us a call or e-mail and we will see what we can do. Telephone, e-mail, and postal mail are all available. We would love to hear from you.
See
Note that we are not interested in arguing doctrine. We are more than willing to answer questions and explain what we know, but if you want to argue please don’t waste your time or ours.